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The good news is I just completed clearing about a foot of snow and no snow in the long range forecast to speak of. So, time to dig into this as there is a lot of winter to go up here in MN.

At least the leak was easy to spot. Not sure what happened though. It appears to be where the fuel injector connects to the throttle body. Not sure at this point if it is a throttle body issue or an injector issue. Looking in the service manual, I can see there is an O-Ring bouncing over to the parts fiche it looks like there is a cap on the top of the injector and the O-Ring is available.

The pipe isn't too bad at about $20 John Deere Pipe - MIU11423
The O-Ring is a $1. - M94391

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Yeah I am thinking the same thing. I am going to grab both O-Rings from the dealer tomorrow. Or at least order them. Not sure how common of a part it is to know if they will have it on hand. I wanted to pick up a couple sheer bolts for the blower anyhow. With the ethanol in fuel now it is hard on rubber bits. Odds are it isn't going to be the throttle assembly. Everything is tight so it isn't like it is bouncing around and not sure how it would crack there. It is mounted pretty firm to the engine. Could be the pipe but again not all that likely. I will replace both while in there. I didn't see anything else that needed to be replaced in the process but I also didn't dive into all the areas. The TM said to pull the radiator. I saw a video on a X485 where a guy was able to pull the injectors (for cleaning) by loosening the fan, taking the throttle assembly nuts off and just sliding it back a bit. That would save me from all the radiator mess.

We can find it at some places. I have a couple motorcycles that don't like E10 fuel. It eats up the fuel pressure regulators. So I try and put in Non-Oxygenated when I can find it. The gas station close to work closed and no other source in that town. There is one station near my house that has it marked as Non-oxygenated on the pump though I am not too sure. I say this because with the motorcycles I can tell the difference. MPG numbers are much better on non-oxy and they pull harder. The station went from a co-op to a Holiday station and ever since performance is basically the same as getting gas at other stations which are E10. I stopped in and asked the manager and they claim it is still non-oxygenated but they charge a much higher price for it and I question it. There is another station near by, a Kwik Trip that has non-oxy so the bikes get gas there. They also charge a bit more for it but it seems to be actual non ethanol so it is worth it in the bikes more so when they go in winter storage.

Never have had a problem running the X585 on E10 until now. I am also just speculating that it is an o-ring failure. I haven't ripped the engine apart that far yet but it does make sense. Since getting the Z950R the X585 doesn't see nearly as much use as it is retired from mowing duties. In warmer months it is used about once a week here and there for FEL work but this is the time of year where it sees the most use when we get snow. I think it has a little over 1100 hrs on the clock now and is a first year (2002) X585.

I called the dealer and they don't have any of the o-rings in stock. They ordered a set for me and they will be here Friday. I probably won't be able to pick them up until Monday though. I guess I will tear things down maybe tonight and verify I don't feel the need to order anything else. I don't have a lot of time to mess with it now anyhow. Need to pack for a camping trip with the Cub Scouts.

We can find it at some places. I have a couple motorcycles that don't like E10 fuel. It eats up the fuel pressure regulators. So I try and put in Non-Oxygenated when I can find it. The gas station close to work closed and no other source in that town. There is one station near my house that has it marked as Non-oxygenated on the pump though I am not too sure. I say this because with the motorcycles I can tell the difference. MPG numbers are much better on non-oxy and they pull harder. The station went from a co-op to a Holiday station and ever since performance is basically the same as getting gas at other stations which are E10. I stopped in and asked the manager and they claim it is still non-oxygenated but they charge a much higher price for it and I question it. There is another station near by, a Kwik Trip that has non-oxy so the bikes get gas there. They also charge a bit more for it but it seems to be actual non ethanol so it is worth it in the bikes more so when they go in winter storage.

Never have had a problem running the X585 on E10 until now. I am also just speculating that it is an o-ring failure. I haven't ripped the engine apart that far yet but it does make sense. Since getting the Z950R the X585 doesn't see nearly as much use as it is retired from mowing duties. In warmer months it is used about once a week here and there for FEL work but this is the time of year where it sees the most use when we get snow. I think it has a little over 1100 hrs on the clock now and is a first year (2002) X585.

I called the dealer and they don't have any of the o-rings in stock. They ordered a set for me and they will be here Friday. I probably won't be able to pick them up until Monday though. I guess I will tear things down maybe tonight and verify I don't feel the need to order anything else. I don't have a lot of time to mess with it now anyhow. Need to pack for a camping trip with the Cub Scouts.

Same for me with the bikes. Increased MPGs also offset some of the premium cost as well.

For small engines (blowers for instance) I have been buying those premixed quarts of fuel. Really expensive per gallon but 2-3 cans is all I use in a year.

For the tractor and Z-Trak. I used a fuel caddy and the Z950R is pretty thirsty so that would increase my cost quite a bit. If the issue is ethanol and I have to replace the O-rings every 16 years, well that isn't that expensive I guess.

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I got a call from the dealer a few minutes before heading home from work that my parts were in. They are in the town were I work on the way home. I didn't expect them in before I left for the weekend which is why I mentioned I would get them on Monday.

Since I was there I picked up a Home Maintenance Kit as well.

The shortcut video I saw on YouTube worked fine. I was able to take the fan mount bolts out and that gave me more than enough room to move the throttle body back enough to get the injectors out. I looked over the O-rings and sure enough, they were showing signs of dry rot most likely caused by ethanol in the fuel. I used a pick to pull the O-rings off the pipes and they were pretty much falling apart. I cleaned everything up and put it back together with the new O-rings. Before mounting the fan I wanted to pull the fuel filter. I decided to fire it up real quick just to make sure it ran fine with no leaks. It popped right off and ran fine. Pulled the fuel filter and mounted the fan. Then I opened the Home Maintenance Kit to grab the new filter but something didn't look right. Hmm. Look at the label and they gave me a kit for a X575 not the X585.

Oh well. I should have double checked the label on it but he looked it up so I thought he grabbed the right one. I don't need the machine this weekend so not a big deal. I will get it back together on Monday, run it a bit and do the oil change.

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I got a call from the dealer a few minutes before heading home from work that my parts were in. They are in the town were I work on the way home. I didn't expect them in before I left for the weekend which is why I mentioned I would get them on Monday.

Since I was there I picked up a Home Maintenance Kit as well.

The shortcut video I saw on YouTube worked fine. I was able to take the fan mount bolts out and that gave me more than enough room to move the throttle body back enough to get the injectors out. I looked over the O-rings and sure enough, they were showing signs of dry rot most likely caused by ethanol in the fuel. I used a pick to pull the O-rings off the pipes and they were pretty much falling apart. I cleaned everything up and put it back together with the new O-rings. Before mounting the fan I wanted to pull the fuel filter. I decided to fire it up real quick just to make sure it ran fine with no leaks. It popped right off and ran fine. Pulled the fuel filter and mounted the fan. Then I opened the Home Maintenance Kit to grab the new filter but something didn't look right. Hmm. Look at the label and they gave me a kit for a X575 not the X585.

Oh well. I should have double checked the label on it but he looked it up so I thought he grabbed the right one. I don't need the machine this weekend so not a big deal. I will get it back together on Monday, run it a bit and do the oil change.

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Stopped by the dealer on the way home and swapped out the home maint kit. We checked the new one (which was labeled right) and everything looked right. He was going to just swap out the fuel filter but then I told him he would then have a service kit labeled for a X585 with the contents for a X575. Since I had opened the air filter and it had some scuff marks from the nut, I took that out of the original kit and swapped it with the one from X585. That way whoever buys that kit won't think it has a used air filter. Though now that I don't mow with this machine anymore, that air cleaner was sure clean.

One interesting thing was they kept asking me what mower deck I had when they looked up the kit number. I asked why they needed to know? I have a deck for it but I haven't put it on in a couple years and there is no parts, fluids or filters in the kit for the mower deck. The parts guy seemed equally confused. He apologized for the mistake. It wasn't a big deal, I didn't need the machine this weekend and I drive right by the dealer to and from work. Had we got another foot of snow this weekend it would have been a little different but I would have just put my old fuel filter back on.